New at the Department: Professor Dr. Sebastian Faust

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Faust is a new member of the Computer Science Department, where he leads the research group Applied Cryptography. In 2010, he obtained his PhD at KU Leuven in Belgium. Professor Faust had been a postdoctoral research fellow at the Danish Aarhus University before he received a Marie Curie IEF grant at EPFL in Switzerland and afterwards, he became an assistant professor at the Ruhr University Bochum. He is now a full professor at the Department of Computer Science.

Professor Faust's research topic, cryptography, is the science of data encryption, which deals with research on the basics of IT security and the development of cryptographical algorithms. Professor Faust also examines new attack models, in which attackers take advantage of weak points in an implementation of a cryptographical algorithm. Attackers can, for instance, skirt the security devices in modern chip cards or smartphones by measuring their power consumption. Professor Faust tries to prevent these kinds of attacks with his research.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies are further research topics. The probably most famous blockchain-based currency are bitcoins, but Ethereum, a distributed system, in which so-called smart contracts are involved, is very popular, too. Smart contracts render it possible to link automatic payments to complex conditions. That way, dividend payments of shares can be depicted completely automatically. Professor Faust holds a lecture about cryptocurrencies this winter semester.

Regarding his new workplace, Professor Faust, who worked at the Faculty of Mathematics at the Ruhr University Bochum, is looking forward to various collaborations with his new colleagues at the Department of Computer Science.

We wish Professor Dr. Sebastian Faust great success and a good start at our Department!